Rudolph Von Ripper (1904-1960) is known primarily as a distinguished artist whose artworks attacked the Nazi regime. A German Catholic trained as an artist at the Dusseldorf Academy, he was to fight on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. After his departure for the United States, he applied to join the US Army, but was accepted only as a combat artist. Neverthless the end of the War saw behind enemy lines with the 34th Division in Italy where he eased himself into a combat role.He is personally credited with killing over sixty enemy combatants. An edition of 30 etchings on the struggle was published after 1945.

He came to public attention (and perhaps to the Art Department of FORTUNE) as the illustrator of TIME's Man of 1938 showing Hitler playing an organ surmounted by a wheel of corpses.

War De Facto Ernie Pyle's WWII Journalism on the Harsh Reality of War and the Life of the Soldier April 29, 2005
by Dr. K. Nordin.

 

 

"In another article, Pyle talked about Lt. Rudolf Charles von Ripper, a painter. Pyle described von Ripper's artistic goal as being to "take the applesauce out of war" and "eliminate the heroics with which war is too often presented" (Ernie's War 250). Von Ripper's sketches, Pyle said, were "sometimes distorted and grotesque," and the landscapes "sad and pitifully torn" scenes. Both von Ripper and [Bill] Mauldin were no doubt respected by Pyle because they strove for the same realism and honesty as he did. In the case of all three men, their own personal vision and experiences likely affected how each perceived the war, as well as how they felt it should be portrayed, but the overarching goal was the sameā€”to make people sit up and take notice."

 

SINGLE PAGE ILLUSTRATION APRIL 1948 - "MONEY"